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Archive for the ‘sales letter’ Category

Looking for an opportunity to shine from the depths of the direct mail slush pile?

Though it might sound a bit cliché, everyone, even those of you who feel encumbered by a limited budget or a relatively small business volume, can do that.  Whether you’re sending out 10 pieces of mail per week, or 1,000 pieces, you can not only entice people to open your mail, but you can keep their attention with a creative, lumpy insert.

Maybe you have, at times, felt intimidated by the “big boys” – the companies who have thousands or millions of dollars to spend on direct mailing.  But, despite what you might have come to believe about these huge corporations, you actually have an advantage over them for creative direct mailing.  If you have an inventive idea for lumpy mail, you don’t have to sit in countless meetings with marketing committees, pitching your idea, enduring criticism, and perhaps, ultimately, having your idea shot down.  You are your final decision maker.

When you’re creative with your lump mail insert, you can spur your recipients to action.  Here are few examples to stimulate your imagination:

• If you’re intent on helping companies and individuals to find their own hidden treasures, you might consider including an old-fashioned scrolled treasure map with your promotional letter.

• If you consider a message to be of the utmost importance, you might want to stuff it into a bottle before mailing it.

• If you’re hoping to entice inactive customers to fall back in love with your company, you might insert a boomerang with a message like, “Boomerangs always come back, don’t they?”

• If your company has a mascot, you can have a lovable likeness of him or her reproduced as a lump.

• If your company helps people to find resources, for instance, you might want to include an ornamental needle-in-a-haystack.

• A complete comprehensive service might be accompanied by a small, silver platter and the statement, “I’ll give you everything you need for start-up on a silver platter.”

• Fortune cookies can be purchased, complete with customized messages inside, that deal specifically with your purpose or promotion.

If you’re stumped for lump ideas, there are resources that can help.  Two examples are www.LumpyMail.com and www.ImpactProductsMarketing.com.  There, you’ll find lots of creative ideas for lumps.  Maybe you want to announce a promotion, invite inactive customers back to the fold, broadcast an upcoming campaign, publicize a grand opening, or announce a new product or service.

Simply using bulk to create a piece of lumpy mail will, indeed, prompt people to open the envelope, but if you want to stay with them for longer than it takes to empty your promotional pen of ink, or to use that pad of custom sticky notes, you’ll want to put some innovative thought into your lumpy insert.

Make your mail memorable with creative lumps…because when your lump is specific to your purpose, and unlike any other lump, it deems you memorable, worthy of the call or the click, and the investment.

Bernadette Doyle specializes in helping entrepreneurs attract a steady stream of ideal clients. If you want to get clients calling you instead of you calling them, sign up for her free weekly e-zine at http://www.clientmagnets.com

Writing a sales letter is a practice in anticipating what your prospects will think, and overcoming their objections. When you’re writing your sales copy, it’s invaluable to be able to put yourself in your prospects’ shoes and predict what they’ll think when they read your copy. It may be difficult to predict all of the objections that your prospects will have to your sales letter, but one thing you can easily manage is this: catch the catch. Explain why you’re offering such a great deal or such a great product to your prospects, or they won’t believe your pitch.

Prospects Look Out for Deals that are Too Good
From an early age, most of us are told “if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” By adulthood, most people feel that they can judge whether a deal is good or not, but that little doubt lurks in the back of most people’s minds. If you do a great job of establishing the value of your product, and justifying your price, people might have trouble trusting you or your sales copy. If you make your product sound “too good to be true,” you have to explain yourself to your prospects or risk loosing sales.

Reasons for Offering a Great Deal
A few key phrases can help diffuse worry over a deal being “too good” and convince your prospects that you’re on the up-and-up. With one technique, you explain to your prospects why a product like yours normally costs more, and how you’ve managed to change the production method to realize a cost savings. Then, you can say something like “I can pass along my cost savings to you.” This lets the prospect know that you know you’re offering a really good deal, and gives them a reason for you offering a good deal. If you don’t explain this to them, they’ll think that you’ve misrepresented the value of what you’re selling, and will turn away from your product.

Another technique involves presenting yourself as the “good guy” and responsible community member to your prospects. For example, you could tell your prospects that a colleague has recommended that you charge more for your product, but you’re “not greedy,” so you’ve chosen to offer it for less. One successful copywriter said “This is such a valuable skill set that I’m offering it at this price so as not to price it out of the hands of the people who need it most.”

In most cases, it doesn’t really matter how you overcome the “it’s too good to be true” objection – just that you address it somehow. When you re-read your sales letter, look at it from the eyes of a potential prospect. If you find yourself thinking “What’s the catch?” then you probably need to re-work your copy, or add in some language explaining why you’re offering such a great deal. With this technique, you can overcome the mental objections of the prospects, and you’re that much closer to making a sale!

Bernadette Doyle specializes in helping entrepreneurs attract a steady stream of ideal clients. If you want to get clients calling you instead of you calling them, sign up for her free weekly e-zine at http://www.clientmagnets.com

The sales letter is your most important marketing tool for building an audience and gaining attendance at your event. It forms the core for your entire marketing campaign, be it online or offline. As the single most important piece of marketing material you’ll develop for your event, the sales letter is worth an investment, either in terms of time or finances.

Writing a Sales Letter Yourself
As the most important marketing material you’ll have for your event, it’s vital that you produce a good sales letter. If you’ve got a low budget or you simply prefer to maintain control of your event materials, you might want to try writing the sales letter yourself. If you do decide to go this route, make sure you understand what you’re doing before you start your draft.

Because the sales letter is such an important marketing piece, it’s worth investing in training that teaches you how to write a sales letter. Don’t assume that writing a sales letter must be easy. Copywriters use tried-and-true techniques to lead into a sales pitch, list benefits, overcome objections and inspire readers to action. If you don’t utilize these techniques in your sales letter, you could be missing out on potential audience members. Training that teaches you how to write sales letters may cost you both financially and in time spent, but it’s an investment well worth the cost.

Hiring a Copywriter to Write Your Sales Letter
If you don’t have the time or inclination to write a sales letter yourself, you might choose to hire a copywriter to write your sales letter. In some ways, this is an extremely beneficial way to approach the sales process. When you hire a copywriter, you’re getting the benefit of that copywriter’s experience writing sales materials. A good copywriter knows the techniques to motivate attendees to register, and can use that knowledge to help make your event a success.

When selecting a copywriter for your sales letter, ask for samples of prior sales letter writing. Additionally, request conversion information. A copywriter who writes a high-conversion sales letter wants to brag about it, while copywriters who can’t provide conversion information may not have written any high-converting sales materials.

How to Turn a Sales Letter Into Other Marketing Materials
A sales letter is just the starting point for your marketing campaign. You can also turn a sales letter into other marketing materials by taking some of the bullet points or takeaway points and creating new materials. You could create postcards, a landing page, brochures, flyers or other sales materials simply by rearranging and nicely formatting your sales letter. The sales letter contains all the information you need for your marketing; all you need to do is convert it to whatever end format you want to present to potential attendees.

Whether you choose to write it yourself or hire a copywriter, I recommend you invest in a good sales letter. Your sales letter is going to be your point of contact with potential attendees, and it can single-handedly create a successful event.

If you’d like to receive invaluable tips and advice on how to attract clients with ease, register at http://www.clientmagnets.com